Translation: Due Date equals the sum of Planes, Trains and Automobiles minus the pillows, multiplied by the sum of pot and wiener jokes plus a little bit of Donny in a coffee can.

As someone who thinks Planes, Trains and Automobiles represents a peak of buddy comedy (if not Everest, at least a Kilimanjaro), Due Date was a knockoff. A pretty good one, but a knockoff just the same.

But what should really flip our noodle is this: If I saw Due Datebefore I saw Planes, Trains and Automobiles, would I think the opposite? Would I wonder why Steve Martin is trying so hard to be Robert Downey Jr.? Hmmm ….

What we experience first often becomes the template through which we view everything that follows.